Ash-sifter



(No Model.)

N.v S. BIRD.

ASH SIPTER.

110.451,25?. PatentedApr. 28,1891.

UNITED TATES PATENT Trice,

NORTON S. BIRD, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

ASH-S'IFTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 451,257, dated April28, 1891. Application iiled September l, 1890. Serial No. 368,589. (Nomodel.)

To a/ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, NORTON S. BIRD, of New Haven, in the county of NewHaven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement inAsh-Sifters; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnection with accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, in

Figure l, a view in front elevation of my improved device with the coveropen; Fig. 2, a view thereof in central longitudinal section, theemptying position of the screeningcylinder being shown by broken linesMy invention relates to an improvement in ash-sitters, the obj ect beingto produce a simple, cheap, convenient, and effective device.

Vith these ends in view myinventi-on consists in certain details ofconstruction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafterdescribed, and pointed out in the claims.

As herein shown, my device has a square base A, having a large centralopening B, in-` closed by a circular band C, secured to the under faceof the said base and preferably composed of a fabric having a deep pile,so that when the device is placed upon a barrel the chine thereof willsink into the fabric and make a dust-proof joint between the device andbarrel. A box D, secured to the upper face of the said base andsurrounding the opening therein, is provided with a cover E, hinged toits rear edge and arched to clear the screening-cylinder, which iscomposed of two heads G G, a body of wire-netting H, a peripheral doorI, and a shaft J, the latter extending centrally through the heads andforming journals which rest in bearings K K, secured to the ends of thebox, one end of the shaft being extended to form the handle L. The saidheads G G are also provided in their peripheries with two couplers, hereconsisting of hooks M M, located opposite each other in front of thesaid door I and turned forward. These hooks are arranged to engage,respectively, with the bent ends NN of a horizontal tilter composed of abar O, pivoted to the front of the box. Normally this bar is arranged asshown inFig. 1 of the drawings, in which its bent ends stand in front ofthe box 5 but when the bar is to be used it is turned so that the saidends will extend rearwardly over the forward edge of the box and intothe paths of the hooks carried by the screening-cylinder, whereby thesame may be lifted and rotated on the said ends of the bar as centers ofrotation and the door of the cylinderbrought over the forward edge ofthe base for dumping the screened coals thereupon preparatory to sortingthem. This mode of tilting the cylinder enables the device to beverycornpactly made and operated in a small space; The said edge of thebase is provided with a hinged sortingapron P, having its edges upturnedand narrowed at its outer end to form a chute. rThis pan is supported inits operative position by means of a horizontal sliding support Q,formed of a rod mounted in the lower face of the base A, and having itsouter end bent to form a supporting-arm R, which is turned u p when thesupport is in use, as shown by Fig. 2 of the drawings, and its inner endbent to form a retaining-finger S, which prevents the support from beingpulled out of its bearing in the base. A sliding door T normally closesa discharge-opening U, formed in the forward side piece of the box andhaving its lower edge in the same plane with the forward edge of thebase. If desired,the door may be hung from the tilting-bar and swingthereon as on a pivot.

A holding-arm V, pivoted to the end piece of the box next to the handleof the cylinder, is bent inwardly at its outer end to receive the handlewith which it is engaged, so as to hold the cylinder against rotation,and with its door uppermost to permit the unscreened ashes to be pouredinto it.

My device will be mounted upon a barrel, and ordinarily its cover willbe closed and its sorting-pan let down out of the way. .To use it itscover is raised and its cylinder locked against rotation with its dooruppermost. The ashes are now poured into the cylinder, the saine isunlocked by throwing back the holding-arm, and the cover shut down. Theashes are now screened by rotating the cylinder, and after this has beendone the cover is opened again and the tilting-bar thrown up into itsoperative position. The cylinder is now rotated forward and its hooksengaged with the ends of the bar and the cylinder turned ou the sanne totilt it and dump the coals remaining in it over the forward edge of thebase and over the sortingpan, which is now supported in its elevatedposition. The screened ashes are now sorted and the worthless coalspushed through the discharge-opening, from which they fall into thebarrel, while the goodcoals are iinallydumped into a hod by simplypushing in the sliding support of the chute. While the screening of theashes is going on, no dust can escape from the device or barrel and thesubsequent operations of sorting and disposing of the good and Worthlesscoals are easily and rapidly carried out.

I would have it understood that I do not limit myself to the exactconstruction and arrangement of parts shown and described, but holdmyself at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly fallwithin the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

l. In an ash-sitter, the combination, with a box, of ascreening-cylinder mounted therein, a movable tilter adapted to be swunginto the path of the cylinder, and couplers attached to the periphery ofthe cylinder to engage with the tilter, on which the cylinder maythen beturned as a center, substantially as described.

2. In an ash-sitter, the combination, with a box, of ascreening-cylinder mounted therein, a rotatable tilting-bar pivoted tothe boX and having its ends bentso that when it is rotated they Will becarried over the edge of the box andl into the path of the cylinder, andcouplers attached to the periphery of the cylinder to engage with thetilter, on which the cylinder may then be turned as a center, substanitially as described.

3. In an ash-sitter, the combination, with a box, of ascreening-cylinder mounted therein, two hooks respectively secured tothe edges `of theheads of the cylinder, and a tilting-bar rotatablysecured to the box and having its ends bent so as to be carried into thepaths of the hooks when it is rotated, substantially as described.

4. In an ash-sifter, the combination, with a base having an openinginit,of aboX secured to the .said base, a'screening-cylinder mounted inthe box, a movable tilter attached to the boX and adapted to be swunginto the path of the cylinder, couplers attached to the periphery of thecylinder and constructed to engage with thetilfter, on which thecylinder may then be swung as a center, a pivotal sorting-apron securedto the forward edge of theV base, a door covering an opening formed inthe side of the boXand a horizontal sliding support mounted in the baseand located under the apron, which it sustains when the same is in itsoperative position, substantially as set forth.

NORTON S. BIRD Witnesses:

GEo. ,1). SEYMOUR, FRED C. yEARLE.

